Five Good Ideas: Working with Volunteers

Five Good Ideas Volunteer Management November 18, 2009

Also, Affectionately Known as Herding Cats

Daily Bread Food Bank 2008/2009 Key Volunteer Statistics
Group Volunteers 8,741
Individual Volunteers 4,585
Public Sorting Volunteers 2,195
Total number of Volunteers 15,521
Total Volunteers Hours 107,259
Percentage of New Volunteers 72%
Percentage Returning 28%

Our Vision: Fighting to End Hunger In Our Communities
Mission
Providing Food and Resources for Hungry People
Mobilizing Greater Support, Involvement and Action
Creating Social Change to Reduce Poverty Through Research,
Education and Advocacy

Good Communications across the volunteer organization
Benefits and Impact
Shared Learning
Increased Morale
Better Retention Rates
Easier deployment across departments
Considerations
Logistical challenges with off site volunteers
More time required by managers to ensure open communications

Understanding and Forecasting your needs for volunteers in your organization
Benefits and Impacts
Increases volunteer satisfaction
Maximizes the use of volunteer time
Identify some work that can be done remotely (such as data analysis)
Considerations
Predicting the changes in the business environment on an on-going basis
Develop processes such as weekly meeting amongst departments

Clear and concise position descriptions and volunteer attributes required
Helps with the selection of appropriate volunteers for the position
Volunteer experience more rewarding and effective
Staff will have a better understanding of roles and expectations
Considerations
Ensures those actually supervising the volunteers participate in developing the description
Ensure the position descriptions are reviewed regularly

Effective training of staff in volunteer management
A better work environment for both staff and volunteers
Allows more junior staff to gain experience in managing people
A forum for staff to discuss issues and seek resolutions
Consideration
Staff will have varying levels of experience in managing people so there needs to be a diversity of courses offered

Formalized volunteer recognition process
Recognition is directly linked to retention
Highly motivated volunteers return as well as spread the word within their networks
Considerations
Recognition should be directly linked to the values of the organization
Formal recognition programs require a consistency and this requires a substantial effort from staff in organizations with a lot of volunteers

Additional Resources
http://volunteer.ca/resources
http://serviceleader.org/new/managers/index.php
http://www.pavrol.on.ca/pavro_resources.shtml
http://www.energizeinc.com

Advising the Community Together (ACT) What is ACT?
ACT is a group within Deloitte Consulting which was started by junior resources to provide pro-bono advisory services to non-profit organizations serving youth
All consultants work above and beyond their day-to-day client commitments to serve the community by volunteering their hours
ACT’s objective is to build capacity within non-profit organizations to ensure sustainability for the future
Areas of Focus Daily Bread Food Bank (DBFB) Project Technology Human Resources Strategy & Operations Help non-profit organizations maximize their IT investments Help align human resources and business strategies by focusing on the organization’s governance model and people-related factors Help non-profit organizations address strategic, management and operational issues Client Issues Approach Results
Challenges were identified with DBFB’s volunteer management
DBFB needed to assess its volunteer organization and develop a roadmap to improve the program
Developed a maturity model for volunteer management, including leading practices
Assed DBFB’s current state, and identified opportunities to improve
A prioritized 3-year roadmap of improvement opportunities
A Volunteer Handbook to support volunteer onboarding
For additional information, email: ACTToronto@deloitte.ca

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Five Good Ideas: Working with Volunteers

by Maytree on Nov 19, 2009

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